HIV cases in Baguio CIty:

I am like most Filipinos, I have a limited understanding of what HIV is and I often mistake it for AIDS. 

I have my own set of prejudice about people who have it and was only able to remove it with the help of informative talks like the rainbow talks of Metropolitan Community Church in Baguio.

The Philippine media has not been that helpful in spreading the actual facts about what HIV is.
 Instead they have made a spectacle out of it, certain individuals who have had HIV before were successfully alienated by the media..

I grew up watching HIV infected individuals on TV being ridiculed and until now the Philippine media has not been that helpful in shedding light as to the real plight of people suffering from HIV.

Unknown to others there is an increasing number of HIV cases in Baguio City,  according to local health officials  the number of HIV patients are increasing.
Dr. Ma Lorena Santos, the chairwoman of Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center HIV and AIDS core team, there are now 72 HIV cases that have been recorded since 2006 until May of 2013.

The youngest HIV infected individual is age 19 while the oldest is at 56 years old. 
There are 51 males and 21 females, 40 are homosexuals, 3 are bisexuals, 8 are heterosexuals. 

Five patients are from Manila  while 28 are residing in Baguio City, some are from Abra, Pampanga, Isabela and other parts of Benguet.  Most of the patients are professionals according to her.

Why is the number increasing?

According to the HIV awareness talk I have attended HIV cases continue to increase in the Philippines because of the prejudice and ridicule coming from the people.

HIV is a taboo topic for many and because of this people are not required and encouraged to get tested.

 Getting tested early can mean the early stoppage of the HIV virus. 

The government is providing free HIV tests but there is no full blown campaign that is being done by the government in order to encourage people to participate.

People are afraid to get tested because they are afraid of what others have to say. 

They hide and they have no information about what is going on, it is not being talked about in the workplace, there are no seminars for it. 

The Philippines is in denial that HIV exists which makes it even harder to face it.
For how can you spread awareness if an issue is not even accepted.

HIV cases exists, no matter how people deny it and no matter how taboo it is, there is a need to talk about it in order to spread the awareness of what can be done about it.

In European countries HIV and AIDS has already been classified and is being dealt with accordingly.

The discrimination part is what is making the virus spread. some will often state that HIV is a disease that gay people spread but that is not the truth.

 Both straight males and straight females have been recorded as carriers of HIV and according to an HIV expert most of the HIV cases recorded all over the world--women are leading.

While it is true that homosexual are at a much higher risk, we have to avoid labeling the HIV as a gay or homosexual disease. it will only worsen the situation. The government and private sectors have to promote the idea that doing an HIV test is not something that a person has to be shy about.

It is not something that should cause people to gossip, it is one way of reducing the chances of spreading the virus while at the same time helping the person infected get an immediate health booster once the virus is detected.

How to get tested in Baguio City for HIV:

A lot of people do not know but there is a free HIV tests being offered by the Baguio Health Center in New Lucban, room 102. 

What to do?

Ask for HIV testing, if the personnel will charge you explain to them that you have received information that the HIV testing is free. 

An interview will then be conducted in the basement area, in the serology area. A student will take 5cc blood and you have to wait for the result for 5 working days. Get the result in the serology room after. 

What are the myths regarding HIV?

 While I was in Thailand there is this circulating story about  how an HIV positive patient placed her blood in some of the canned goods in order to spread HIV out of revenge.

 I being ignorant of the facts believed it at first but thanks to the enlightening  seminar conducted by the Metropolitan Community Church in Baguio I was spared of this ignorance.

HIV virus is very weak, it is not able to thrive in food and water for a very long time, there is a 0.0% chance that you will get HIV by eating food or drinking fluids so you can definitely cross that out on the list.

You cannot get HIV just by breathing the same air as someone who is HIV positive. 

Believe me I have  met people who openly admitted that they are HIV positive and I am not infected. 

I have no worries about hugging them or making them my friends because it is plainly ignorant to do such a thing.

HIV cannot spread by simply seating on a toilet seat or holding a doorknob because if this was true then almost everyone in the world should have been infected by now. 
It cannot be spread by drinking in a fountain, or by sharing eaten utensils.

It cannot be spread using exercise equipment at the gym. It can only be spread through infected blood, semen, vaginal fluid and mother's milk. 

It is also a myth that you will not get infected with HIV by using new drugs, while antiretroviral drugs has certainly extended the lives of infected individuals it does not guarantee that it will help everyone.

This drugs are highly expensive and can also have side effects. 

Another existing myth is that a person will get HIV if they are bit by mosquitoes, HIV can only spread from human to human blood contact.

HIV  virus cannot live for long periods of time making it almost impossible to spread because of mosquitoes.

Practicing safe sex and getting tested early is still the best method of preventing HIV infection from spreading.

In observance of the World AID's Day a poetry slam is being conducted in Baguio in cooperation with AIDS Society of the Phiippines, Mt. Cloud Bookshop and Baguio Writer's Group.